Parades, Festivals and Fireworks
by Raven A. Star
Summary: The sequel to "A Father's Day Appearance". The Titans, Emily and her dad celebrate Independence Day by going to a festival, watching a parade and enjoying the evening fireworks. [COMPLETED]
1. Independence Day Part I

**_Author's Note:  
_**_This is the sequel to the sequel to the story. Oo' Okay, that sounded weird...anyway, this is the July 4th fic. I hope you enjoy it. It is the sequel to the "Father's Day" fic. Sorry to say though, that this will be the last story in the series...unless I decide to write another one for Halloween or Christmas or something...Oo Okay, enjoy!_

**_-Raven A. Star_**

_It's Independence Day I'm free  
__And it's a strange place to be  
__I'm gonna break these chains   
__Unleash the changes in me_

_I see an endless road  
__I feel the restless wind  
__I've lost the fear inside  
__Cause I've got no choice  
__But to live or die  
  
__-Leann Rimes from "Suddenly"_

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_**"Come on Emily! Please give me the sunscreen!" Emily giggled as she slid under the kitchen table with the bottle of sunscreen. Raven groaned and bent over and reached under to get her. Emily crawled out and ran over to the couch and dove over it, only to be caught by her father, Roger.

"Emily, that's not nice stealing the sunscreen."

Emily stuck out her lower lip and put on a puppy-eyed expression. Starfire walked in happily.

"Hello friends." She gasped. "What have you done to upset little Emily? You are horrible! Vile! Evil! Cru-"

"Starfire, we just asked for the sunscreen and she didn't want to give it up."

Starfire grinned. "Oops, my apologies. With the facial expression, she looks like she was about to cry due to something mean."

Raven rolled her eyes smiling faintly. She snatched the bottle out of Emily's grasp. "Thank you. I'll take that."

Emily cried out. Raven was about to walk away, so she grabbed a bottle of mustard on the kitchen table and handed it to the girl. "Here, just...don't cry."

Emily grinned from ear to ear and the dad nearly fainted when Starfire handed her a straw. Emily started sucking the mustard out of the bottle in loud slurps, which made her dad set her down and run to his room.

Just then Beast Boy walked in with a large cooler and medium sized basket followed by Cyborg who was carrying several lawn chairs. "You guys almost ready? We've got everything pretty much except for the blanket and sunscr--" Raven handed Beast Boy the bottle. He grinned. "Well, scratch sunscreen off and just search for the blanket. Actually, we should bring several and maybe a beach umbrella."

Raven raised an eyebrow as she dug through the linen closet. "Beach umbrella? Whatever for?"

"Well, in case if we can't find shade we can use that for it. It's going to be very sunny."

Raven nodded. She pulled out several large blankets and handed them to Beast Boy who placed them in the basket. She reached into the corner and pulled out the beach umbrella and Starfire took it.

Emily ran over and looked at the cooler. "What is in the cooler?"

Beast Boy grinned. "Lunch, snacks, drinks, and things you would need for a picnic while watching the parade." He opened it up and revealed a large stack of sandwiches on one side and several rows of drinks with cookies and other sweets inside.

Emily bounced up and down and grabbed Raven's cloak. "Hey Raven! I heard that there is some sort of festival in the park! Can we go there?"

Raven smiled faintly. "That was the general plan...unless of course you want to stay with me under a tree and read some depressing poetry..."

Emily made a face and ran over to Starfire and grabbed her hand. "Me and Starfire wanna ride the spinning tea cups!"

Roger walked back into the room with a smile on his face. "Well, are we ready to go?"

Starfire held up the umbrella. "We just need Robin to join us."

Raven held up a finger. "I'll get him." She walked down the hallway and ascended the stairway. She climbed the last step and walked down to the last room in the hallway. She knocked.

"Who is it?" A voice called from within.

"Raven, look Rob, we're ready to go now...you coming?"

"I don't know...I think I'll stay."

Raven glared at the door. "Robin, don't spoil the day for us. Emily wants everyone to go, and Starfire will be mad at you if you don't come with us. Bring some work to do...it won't kill you."

Robin opened his door. "Raven, you're going?"

Raven nodded. "Anything for Emily. Now come on, everyone's waiting. They'll kick your rear if you don't come."

Robin switched the light off and walked down the hallway. "Let's go then."

-----

"Are we there yet?"

"About five minutes more." Cyborg answered.

Emily bounced up and down in her seat. Opening her mouth, she asked again. "Are we there yet?"

Cyborg grumbled. Raven gave Emily a brownie. "Here, eat."

Roger chuckled. "Boy Raven, you sure have a way with kids…"  
  
Raven closed the lid to the cooler. "What can I say? I live with him." She pointed to Beast Boy.   
  
He took this as an insult. "Hey! I am not a kid!" Cyborg clenched his mouth tight. Beast Boy glared. "No snappy comebacks robot, got it?"

Raven rolled her eyes and looked out the window at the scenery passing by. Fourth of July flags and red, white and blue ribbon tossed everywhere. There were balloons of the same color hung everywhere to celebrate the holiday.

Cyborg pulled into a parking space close to the park and cut the engine. "Ready gang?" Everyone piled out of the car carrying something.   
  
Robin led them to a spot that was fortunately near a tree. They began to set up the mini picnic. Beast Boy stretched his arms after a few minutes of the setting up. "This is a great spot to view the parade from."   
  
Starfire reached into the cooler and pulled out a large bottle of mustard. "Agreed Beast Boy. This spot is, terrific? Yes?"  
  
Raven groaned. "Alright, who packed the mustard?"  
  
Emily giggled. "Me."  
  
Raven eyed her. "You?"  
  
Starfire handed Emily a smaller bottle of mustard and straw. "Would you like to join us Raven?"  
  
Raven shook her head. "No thanks…"  
  
Beast Boy tapped Cyborg on the shoulder. "Do you see what I see?" Cyborg looked to the festival.   
  
"If you're talking about all the games down there, then yeah."  
  
Cyborg ran down to the park with Beast Boy chasing after him. "We're going to the games! Be back in a few!"  
  
Robin smiled. "Hey! Wait up!" He ran after them with his feet skimming the pavement.

Raven looked from the two girls slurping mustard to Roger. "So, what do you want to do?"  
  
Roger cringed each time a slurping noise was made. "First, I wanna steal the mustard and hide it, then maybe go down and browse a little bit and see what they have there…"  
  
Raven nodded. Using her powers, she stole the mustard out of the girl's clenches. There were several angry cries.   
  
"Hey! Give that back friend Raven!" Starfire grumbled.

Raven shook her head. "Tisk tisk. We come here to have fun and all you two do is sit on your butts and slurp mustard. If I didn't know any better, I would think that I would be having much more fun than you two…"  
  
Starfire leaped to her feet. "Fun! We must go and achieve fundom!" She grabbed Emily's hand who grabbed her dad's hand who grabbed Raven's hand. "Let us go!" She was about to fly off when Emily released her grip on Roger's.   
  
"Wait! Some of us have to stay and watch the baskets!" Raven sighed. "You guys go, I'll stay here. Cause I don't DO fun." She sat on the blanket and pulled out a book and began to read. Roger shooed the two girls off and sat on the blanket next to Raven.   
  
"She's a cute kid…so glad you took care of her when I wasn't there."  
  
Raven nodded. "No problem."  
  
**_-End of Chapter 1- _**

**_Next time:   
_**The parade and fireworks! XD


	2. Independence Day Part II

_**Author's Note:**   
__Well, I see a bunch of you liked this sequel so far. Glad you did! _

_-Raven A. Star_

****

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Beast Boy tossed a ring and it landed on a pin on the wall. He high-fived Cyborg and the worker gave him the prize.

"Heh, too bad it wasn't a chicken. Remember Rae's face when we won that prize for her and it was a giant chicken? That was awesome!"

The two laughed and went to the next game area and heard loud giggling. They looked over to the spinning tea cups and saw the two girls holding their hands up with giant smiles on their faces laughing and spinning as they went round and round and round in circles.

Beast Boy walked over and watched the cart pass spinning. "Yo Cyborg, five bucks one of them gets sick? I say neither. Five bucks from me."

Cyborg slapped five dollars on Beast Boy's palm. "Yup. My money's on...Emily."

"Mine is on Starfire." Raven walked over with a bag of popcorn and slapped ten dollars on his palm. The boys' eyes widened.

"TEN DOLLARS???" He looked up gaping. "Yo Rae, don't get mad at us when you lose..."

Raven smirked. "Don't be too sure." She popped a kernel into her mouth. The boys and Raven watched the tea cup spin past and Starfire suddenly groaned.

"I do not feel well..." She passed the spectating Titans and suddenly lost whatever was in her stomach. Raven dodged the flying chunks and laughed out loud accidentally when Beast Boy and Cyborg was covered in it. She reached out and took the money.

"Thank you, now if you don't mind, I have to try to get Emily off of those rides so I can put sunscreen on her so she don't get a sunburn." She walked over to the rides entrance.

Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other and groaned from under the chunks. "Ew...."

-----

Robin stood on the street's edge and looked down it past the long crowd of people. He was about to walk out into the people surrounded road when he heard shouting. He looked back and saw Raven chasing Emily.

"Emily! Get back here this instant!"

"You gotta catch me first!"

Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire and Roger walked up from behind the running Raven and watched as she chased the little girl around holding the sunblock bottle. Raven stopped and narrowed her eyes.

"Emily, I am going to count to three, and you better be standing perfectly still in front of me so I can put sunscreen on you. One---two---three." Raven frowned and slumped her shoulders when Emily made faces at her. Raven sighed and crossed her arms. "So, that's how you wanna play it huh? I can play that game." She cleared her throat. "Do you want me to say it?"

Emily's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare, would you?"

Raven smirked. "Wouldn't I?" She took a deep breath. "Azerath..."

In a mere second Emily was standing in front of Raven holding her arms out. "I SURRENDER!"

Raven squirted the white cream out of the bottle and began to apply it to Emily's arms and face. "I don't want you to get a horrible sunburn. Trust me. There's the burning, the feeling that you're burning/boiling, then your skin (if sensitive) begins to peel, and it's not pretty."

Emily made a face. Suddenly, the sound of muskets firing went off. Starfire bounced up and down. "Look friends! The marching of floats is beginning!"

"It's a parade, Starfire." Raven corrected when she tossed the bottle onto the blanket. Emily grabbed Raven's hand and Roger's hand and dragged the two down to the road's edge. The other Titans followed them and stood on the edge and observed the passing floats.

Emily squealed everytime a cart went by with horses pulling it. She began to do her own little march when the band of bagpipes passed by. She was about to start another march when a fire truck honked its horn loudly, causing her to jump.

Starfire covered her ears. "What is the meaning of the loudness from the vehicles of such redness? My hearing aids are ringing!"

Roger turned to Starfire. "You wear hearing aids?"

Raven retorted. "Er, she means her ears."

The firetruck honked again and several firemen tossed candy out to the spectators. Emily dashed out with Starfire and grabbed as much candy as they could. An older version of a fire truck passed with a hose out and sprayed those who stood out and begged for it. Emily bounced up and down in front of Raven with Starfire and begged to be soaked. She got her command.

Unfortunately, Raven also got soaked. She was sprayed and Roger had to cover her mouth to stop himself from laughing. Raven stood with her arms outstretched and her mouth agape.

She blinked. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Emily smiled. "You stood behind me! That's what!"

Raven stared. "Ha ha ha. Very funny." She took her cloak and wrung it out on Roger's head as payback for the snickering.

-----

Starfire took a large gulp of her mustard and smiled from ear to ear. "Friends! This has to be one of my most exciting and most favored July of the number four ever!"

Robin smiled. "The fourth of July, Star."

"Yes, Robin. That is what I said. The July of the number 4!"

Raven sighed and took a bite from her pizza.

Emily took a sip from her soda. "I heard that there are going to be fireworks dad, where and when?"

"Later tonight, at around 9:30 PM or so. And you see over in that clearing where that fire truck is?" Emily nodded. "That is where it will be. They will set them off there and we can sit anywhere here and watch."

Cyborg looked down to the rides. "There are some shops you can go through while waiting for the fireworks to start. Or even go on a few more rides."

Beast Boy frowned. "Next time, I'm not betting on Emily. I'm betting on Starfire."

Raven took another bite from her sandwich. "I put money on neither of them this time."

Emily looked up to Raven confused. "What?"

"Those two made a bet that you would throw up on that ride. Well, I made a bet against them saying that Starfire would. And I won."

Robin frowned. "Raven! I'm surprised with you!"

Raven shrugged. "Would you rather have me going around and throwing random annoying people out into the lake?"

Robin cringed. "Never mind."

-----

"What time is it?"

"9:20 PM."

There was a pause.

"What time is it?"

"9:21 PM."

Another pause. "What time is it?"

"Cut it out, Starfire," Raven growled, "You keep asking and you won't live to see 9:22 PM."

Starfire didn't say anything. She turned to Emily and winked. Emily winked back.

"What time is it?"

Raven growled. "Starfire!"

Starfire held her hands up defensively. "But friend Raven, I did not ask that time! It was Emily!"

"You told her to."

"I did no such action." She winked at Emily. Emily winked back.

"What time is it?"

Raven groaned. Taking the corners of her cloak, she stuffed them into her ears blocking out any sound from the two.

"Well?"

Cyborg looked at his watch again. "9:25 PM."

Emily and Starfire both bounced on the blanket impatiently.

After they had eaten dinner, they had packed up their things and moved to the top of a hill that was not too far from the fireworks starting point. They laid out the blanket and set it up just like before. It was around 7:30 PM and they had time to spare. They went back down to the park area and browsed once again.

Emily and Starfire had become so hyped up over waiting for the fireworks to start, they forced everyone to their seats and started yelling and whooping for the fire fighters to start the fireworks display. But even then, there was still too much sunlight visible which would've ruined the whole display.

Emily was about to ask what time it was again when something shot up from the fireworks center and propelled into the night sky. It exploded, lighting up the park with bright flashes of gold and red leaving glitter to fill in the blackness of the sky. It faded away, and another shot up and did the same, only with blues.

Emily grabbed the cloak corners out of Raven's ears and pointed her head in the direction with the fireworks were. Raven pulled Emily onto her lap and everyone watched in aw as one by one, the little rockets shot up and exploded with vivid colors and sizzling lights.

Emily leaned back against Raven and her smiled was so big, one could've swore that her face was too small for it. Raven brushed the hair on the girl's head with her hand. Emily sighed. "This is one of the best holiday's ever."

Raven smiled a true smile. "This was terrific." Roger leaned over and placed a kiss on Emily's cheek and everyone continued to watch the display of lights. Then the finally came with many small rockets shooting up and exploding all at once.

Beast Boy was watching from the back. He peaked a glance at the other Titans and nearly laughed out loud when he saw Cyborg's mouth drop and nearly catch a few flies. He looked over to Robin and Starfire and saw that they were holding hands and had sneaked a kiss to each other. He then looked over to Raven and Emily and her dad and saw Raven brushing the child's hair with her hand and Roger planted a kiss on the child's face. He leaned back and listened to the booming sounds of the fireworks. The last rocket shot up and the bang was loudest of all of them. Just then, Emily spoke up.

"That was the shot heard 'round the world."

**_-The End-_**

**_Author's Note: _**_Well, that's the end. I hope you all enjoyed the Fourth of July! Anyway, no more sequels to this series. Sorry I didn't post it yesterday, wasn't home at all. oO'****_


End file.
